Refrigerator display rack



April 11, 1950 J, s c 2,503,419

REFRIGERATOR DISPLAY RACK Filed June 27, 1947 Patented Apr. 11, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATOR DISPLAY RACK John A. Sccunde, Cleveland, Ohio Application June 27, 1947, Serial No. 757,397

2 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigerator show cases in general, and more particularly to flower display cases.

An object of my invention is to provide a display for box flowers.

Another object of my invention is to display box flowers within a self-serve cabinet with the boxes arranged and held in an upright position for instant visual inspection and easy access for self-service.

And another object of my invention is to provide a display rack of box flowers in a refrigerated cabinet, which will permit free circulation of refrigerated air about each box displayed.

Other objects and fuller understanding of my invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a refrigerated display case having a front opening;

Figure 2 is a case similar to the one illustrated in Figure 1, with a portion broken away to illustrate the fan and the housing for directing and circulating cool air within the cabinet;

Figure 3 is a prospective view of my preferred display stand; and

Figure 4 is a view of four standard size display boxes which may be used with my display means.

In recent years, self-service stores of all kinds have come into extremely popular vogue. Cabinets have been provided from which the customer may select frozen foods, butter, eggs, milk and other products. Thus, the customer is able to View and select for himself the exact commodities which he chooses to buy. The fact is established beyond a doubt, that such a scheme is appreciated by the customer, because the self service stores are becoming increasingly strongly patronized.

However, as yet, the florist trade has remained a substantially custom industry serving each customer individually. Generally a customer is exposed to a display of flowers on sale only when he deliberately goes into a florist shop with the intent of buying flowers. Consequently, flower purchases are normally looked upon as special occasion events. Few people think of dropping into the florist each day or two to buy a bouquet of flowers for the home as one would stop to purchase a daily food supply.

My improved display case provides the means and opportunity to package bouquets and corsages of flowers and place them in food markets and other spots frequented by the public, and this display cas is so constructed that the prospective customer may stand before the case and View the various packages of flowers until a selection is made. Then, one of the doors of the cabinet may be easily opened and the selected package of flowers removed. There is no need for a salesman to select the flowers and make up a bouquet. This work has been done, and the customers may view the finished product. Furthermore, by my improved display rack, the florist may be assured that the flowers which he prepares and delivers to my improved display case will stay properly fresh for a long period of time, because each individual package of flowers is properly refrigerated at a proper temperature.

" By this improved means of self service display,

the florist industry may package and sell flowers to the general public as an every day commodity rather than as a special event commodity. Of course, this method of display and sale is only a supplement, not a replacement for the legitimate florist.

With reference to Figure 1 of the drawing, I illustrate a cabinet Ill having a sloping front face 25 and two slidable closure doors I I and I2. The cabinet Hi may be of any suitable material, for example a wood exterior and a metal liner, and is properly insulated in order to reduce heat transmission through the walls thereof. This cabinet may be suitably lighted by the provision of daylight type of fluorescent tube 28, or may be unlighted if the position of the box will afford enough light from other sources through the doors H and I2.

In order to provide the cabinet ID as compact and pleasing in appearance as possible, I have positioned a refrigeration unit I4 for the cabinet to extend into the floor below the showroom in which the cabinet is to be placed. Ofcourse, this refrigeration unit could be suitably attached or positioned relative to the cabinet in order to make the cabinet self-contained, but the cabinet is usually placed in a sales room for considerable periods of time, and therefore it is no great hardship to place the refrigeration unit M in the floor below the display room. Furthermore, the refrigeration unit I4 is therefore coolable by water rather than only by air, and is therefore more efficient.

As shown in Figure 2 of the drawing, a suitable housing or duct I3 is provided within the cabinet Ill to house cooling equipment, and the air within the cabinet I!) may be constantly circulated through the duct over the cooling equipment and about the cabinet ID by means of a fan 21. I have discovered that although the cold air will normally settle to the lower portion of the cabinet l 0, better results are obtained by conducting the cooled air directly to the bottom of the cabinet l and allowing the air to circulate upward by displacement and warming. The air duct [3 extends close to the floor of the interior of the cabinet I0, and a curved portion 28 is provided at the bottom of the duct 13 to direct the cooled air across the floor. The cooled air may then settle across the entire floor and work upwardly through the cabinet.

Figure 3 of the drawing illustrates the improved display stand I! which I have developed for displaying flowers within the cabinet [9. It will be observed from this view of the drawing, that the stand I! is made of a foraminous material, preferably heavy metal screening, and is constructed to provide a plurality of sections [8. In the embodiment illustrated in the Figure 3, I have provided four tiers of the box receiving sections l8, although more or less may be provided as required. Of course, the stand I? may be made as long as desired to fit any desired length of cabinet [0. In the illustrated embodiment, I have provided the stand ll with the length of six sections I8. The tier portion of the stand ll is mounted upon a rectangular base section 25. The base portion 24 therefore serves as a bottom means common to all the sections [8. This base section 24 is also of foraminous material, and is somewhat wider than the four tiers of the tier section, and therefore a display ledge i9 is provided in front of the tier section. Thus, smaller packages, such for example as corsages, may be placed on the ledge IQ for display. The imper forated nature of the entire assembly, and especially the foraminous nature of the base portion 24 permits the refrigerated air which is conducted to the bottom of the cabinet ID by the air duct IE, to disperse under the tier section, and the cool air may then work its way upwardly through the bottom of the individual sections 18. In ot er words, the base portion 24 serves as a header to direct the cool air. The top of the base portion 24, of course, provides a floor common to each of the sections I8.

In Figure 4 of the drawing, 1 illustrate four commercially available size florist display boxes 2|, 22, 23, and 24. These boxes may readily be obtained in inch, 24, 18 inch, and 12 inch lengths. They are all of the same cross-sectional dimensions. These boxes are normally provided with tops or lids, but for use with my improved display rack, the lids are dispensed with and the boxes are closed by sheets of transparent material, such for example as a regenerated cellulose sheet 15. Thus, the 12 inch boxes may be placed in the front or lower tier of sections 18, and the successively longer boxes, may be placed in the successively rearward row of sections l8. Thus, the merchandise contained within the boxes 2|, 22, 23, and 24, may be observed by a person viewing through the doors I l and I2. The boxes, of course, are supported upon the top of the base portion 24, and will not drop through the section I8 into contact with the floor of the cabinet I 9. Thus, the cool air working up through the bottom of the section l8 will circulate around the individual boxes and keep the temperature therein at a controlled, cool level. There is no stron blast of cooling air upon one side or the other side of the stand I1, and therefore one group of the boxes will not be cooled to a low temperature and the boxes on the other side suffer from 4 too high a temperature. My improved display method provides even distribution of the cooling air to keep all of the boxes evenly refrigerated, and when metal is used for the stand ll generally, and particularly for the base portion header 24, heat will be conducted by the metal to aid in the even cooling.

Although I have described my invention in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. A display rack for displaying packaged flowers in a refrigerated chamber, comprising, a base section having a foraminous top wall, support means to hold said top wall off the floor of the refrigerated chamber, and a box display section mounted upon said top Wall, said box display section havin a plurality of vertical foraminous longitudinal and cross wall members intersected to define a plurality of box-holding sections, said cross wall members having a top edge extending in an angular direction relative to said top wall of the base section, whereby the box display sections define a plurality of vertical box-holding sections of progressively increasing depth sup-- ported above the floor of the refrigerated chamber upon the foraminous support which evenly distributes cold air from the base section upwardly around the box-holding sections.

2. A display rack for displaying packaged flowers in a refrigerated chamber, comprising, a base section having a foraminous top wall, support means to hold said top wall off the floor of the refrigerated chamber, and a box display section mounted upon said top wall, said box display section having a plurality of vertical foraminous longitudinal and cross wall members intersected to define a plurality of box-holding sections, said cross wall members having a top edge extending in an angular direction relative to said top wall of the base section, said cross wall members being terminated inwardly of one edge of the foraminous top Wall to allow a display ledge to extend beyond the front of the box display section, whereby the box display sections define a plurality of vertical box-holding sections of progressively increasing depth supported above the fioor of the refrigerated chamber upon the foraminous support which evenly distributes cold air from the base section upwardly around the box-holding sections.

JOHN A. SECUNDE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 713,178 Thorpe Nov. 11, 19.02 914,421 Jones Mar. 9, 1909 955,589 Fassio Apr. 19, 1910 1,859,871 Harlan May 24, 1932 2,004,691 Friedrich June 11, 1935 2,172 284 Lieberman Sept. 5, 1939 2,192,243 Rogers Mar. 5, 1940 2,243,958 Hermann June 3, 1941 

